What May Come
by drahcirwolf
Summary: Immediately before Book Three: Episode One, Korra reflects on her lost connection to the past Avatars. In an attempt to reconnect with Aang, Korra enters the spirit world and encounters a strange spirit that claims to have the power to see the future. The spirit shows Korra two possible futures and offers her the choice of which one will come to pass.


If Korra had a choice, she wouldn't have been up so early. It could have been that one of her past lives was able to get up before dawn without feeling like a lobster-slug, but that talent didn't get passed along through the Avatar Cycle. She maintained her opinion that the morning was evil.

As she stood on the cliffs, breathing in the salty air coming off the bay, the only thing Korra wanted was to turn around and go back to her room in the temple. Her mattress was thin and her pillow about as comfortable as a wooden block, but it seemed preferable to feeling this tired.

This alone.

Korra felt her lip twist at the stray thought. Hardly alone. Even now, she could hear Meelo and Ikki screeching about Air Temple Island; one could set a clock by the regularity of their spats. She could smell Pema cooking breakfast. The air acolytes were always present in the corner of her eye as they performed their daily chores and rituals. She could feel a slight rumble beneath her feet whenever Bolin tossed a rock during his morning earthbending practice. Even the lemurs were up and about, chittering to each other as they did whatever it was the little hoodlums got up to when they weren't trying to steal her lunch. The island was alive, filled with the people Korra loved.

 _So, why do I feel so alone?_ she wondered.

The question was a stupid one. Korra already knew the answer. Something precious had been taken from her, and the loss of it still didn't seem real. She could try to deny what happened, but the truth always came back to confront her.

Aang was gone. As was Roku, Kyoshi, and Kuruk. Every Avatar, from Aang to Wan, had been ripped from her soul. It had been a violation of the very essence of what it meant to be the Avatar. Unalaq, Korra's uncle, took her past lives from her. Even if that had been his only crime, she could never forgive him.

The evidence of her uncle's other crimes lay before her. Across the bay, Korra could make out the electric lights of Republic City through the morning fog. They were dimmer than she remembered them, dimmer than they were the first time she saw them. The vines choked out the light. Strangling. Oppressive. Much of downtown was now a roiling, wild expanse of spirit vines conjured by an entity of chaos and darkness.

 _And, there's nothing I can do to get rid of them,_ she thought. Korra pursed her lips at the bitter reminder. She hated those vines. She hated them almost as much as she hated Unalaq.

"Korra? You're up earlier than usual."

She turned towards the voice. Asami was dressed and ready for the coming day. Korra hadn't been surprised to learn that Asami was a morning person. From the moment Korra first met her, Asami Sato always seemed too perfect to be real. Korra used to hate that about her. Lately, she thought she had begun to admire it.

"Everything okay?" Asami asked. She smiled at Korra, an expression of concern in her green eyes. She was wearing her work jumpsuit, black and red with the half-gear emblem of Future Industries emblazoned on either shoulder, leading Korra to guess that Asami would be heading for her office before much longer.

Asami had been working so hard to keep her father's company afloat. She was probably the only person in the world who had more bad luck than Korra did. Misfortune after misfortune crashed into Asami's life, yet Korra never saw it take away her light for long. She wished there was something she could do to help her. Asami was simply too kind and good not to like.

"I'm fine," Korra lied. "It's just going to be a long day."

Asami stood next to her, and she held a hand up to her dark hair to keep it from getting blown by a sudden, stiff breeze. "Big plans?" she asked.

Korra looked down at her feet. "I'm going to the overgrown parts of the city again," she told her. "Tenzin and Jinora are meeting me there. Maybe with the three of us, we can finally figure out a way to get rid of the vines."

"You'll find a way," Asami said. "You're the Avatar, and Tenzin and Jinora are the most powerful airbenders alive. Just say the word, and you'll have all of Future Industries behind you, too. It's going to work out."

Asami said it so confidently— as if there was no other possibility than that Korra would succeed. It was comforting to hear. So few had any faith in the Avatar anymore. One would think that after saving Republic City and the rest of the world from ten-thousand years of darkness that the press could give her a bit of consideration.

Korra glanced over at her. "Thanks, Asami. It's sweet of you to say." She doubted that sounded as convincing as it did in her head.

Asami averted her eyes and changed the subject. "Did you hear about the press conference?"

"Press conference? Whose?"

Asami winced. She must have regretted bringing it up. Korra braced herself for what was likely to be a doozie.

"President Raiko's," Asami explained. "The newspapers have been after him for a statement about how the situation with the vines is progressing. He agreed to address them in front of city hall this afternoon."

Korra felt her teeth clench. It didn't take more than just picturing Raiko's smug, little mustache to get her blood boiling. "I hate that guy," she growled.

Asami clucked her tongue. She crossed her arms, and her eyebrows drew together. "I don't blame you. He takes every chance he can get to try to blame all his problems on you. I can't stand that I voted for him."

Neither could Korra, but the other guy running for the office hadn't exactly been a sterling example of political elegance either. The way the man had so brazenly courted Asami for her support of his campaign had made Korra's skin crawl. "At least you got to vote," she said. "I hadn't turned eighteen before the election. They'll let me fight for them, risk my life for them, and have an evil spirit reach down my throat and rip the Avatar spirit out of me, but nooo. Don't let the girl vote. She's too young!"

It dawned on Korra that she was shouting. She murmured an apology to Asami for letting her temper get the better of her again.

Asami put a gloved hand on Korra's shoulder. "You're eighteen now. Tell you what. Next election, we'll go to the polls together and have an 'un-elect Raiko' party. You bring one of Pema's cakes, and I'll bring the party hats.

Korra laughed and cracked a smile for the first time in too long. That image of the poised and elegant Asami in a party hat was just what she needed. "You've got a deal."

It struck Korra in that moment that Asami didn't put her on edge like she used to. They'd spent more time together over the last few weeks, and Korra felt that this had helped put what came before behind them. She remembered a time when the mere mention of Asami's name could make her sick with envy. Their relationship had begun complicated, both of them competing for the same guy. Mako hadn't really spoken much to either of them since Korra broke it off with him, but she was glad that something good came of it all. Korra couldn't imagine not having Asami around anymore, and she was grateful that Asami often stayed with her, Tenzin, and his family on Air Temple Island instead of at the Sato family estate.

"If Korra didn't have her here, it would have been one more empty hole in her life. For the last couple of weeks, she had enough of those as it was.

 _It always goes back to that,_ Korra thought. The realization was accompanied by a slight grimace. As easily as it came, the moment of levity passes.

"Korra, what's wrong?" Asami asked. "There's more bothering you than just Raiko and the vines, isn't there? You can talk to me."

Korra opened her mouth to say she was fine again, but the lie died in the inception. "I miss Aang," she said without thinking. "I know I didn't have my connection with him long. It was only a few months since I first spoke with him, but now that he's gone…" She turned towards Asami and tried her best to keep the tears from welling up in her eyes. Korra didn't want her to see her cry. "I've never felt this alone before."

Korra's cheeks started to flush when she realized what she said. Mortified, really. Telling someone right out how she was feeling wasn't something she thought she was known for. Korra looked away and tried to hide her embarrassment.

Asami put her arm around Korra. Her touch was tentative, like she didn't yet know if it was something Korra would accept. "I'm sorry. I can't even imagine what that must be like."

Hesitantly, Korra placed a hand on Asami's arm. She could feel herself trembling. Not just because of the pain of losing her connection to her past lives, but because she was ashamed of herself. How could she ever have thought of Asami as an enemy? Remembering how she used to wish the other girl would just disappear… The shame of it was too much for her.

"You don't need to hide it, Korra," Asami continued. "I know it must hurt you, but it doesn't change who you are. With or without the past Avatars, you're still amazing."

Asami might have been alone in thinking like that. Even Tenzin saw something other than just Korra of the Southern Water Tribe when he looked at her. As of late, Korra would catch Tenzin with a sad light in his eyes when he thought she couldn't see. With her past lives gone, he must have seen her as proof that his father Aang was gone forever. She was the last Avatar of the old cycle, the stupid girl who lost hundreds of lifetimes of knowledge and experience. How could Tenzin bear to even look at her?

 _I let his father die one final time._

The part of Korra that was rational knew that she was imagining most of it. As her mentor and a second father-figure, Tenzin was more worried about Korra and her well-being, but she couldn't stop dwelling on how he must have felt about it all. She didn't have a monopoly on the pain from what happened at the Southern Spirit Portal.

Asami tightened her hold on Korra as if sensing the path her thoughts were taking. "Don't give up hope, Korra."

It was hard not to feel a little warmer. Korra may have had mentors, friends, and comrades, but she thought she had only one person in all the world who had always taken her as she was. Asami didn't expect her to overcome everything just because she was the Avatar. She expected it of her because she was Korra. She didn't think Asami could possibly know how much she valued that.

Thank you," Korra said after Asami pulled away. She could tell she was still blushing. This touchy-feely stuff wasn't something she was used to. "Really. It means a lot to me that you're here. Bolin, too," she added quickly, and she tried to work up a smile for Asami. "It's good to have friends around."

Asami nodded. "If there's ever anything you need, we'll be there for you. Anything at all."

Korra looked back over the bay towards Republic City. The sky was beginning to turn pink with the dawn. "If I think of something, you'll be the first to know."

Asami stepped back, ready to get on with her day. She must have had stacks of papers waiting for her somewhere. Korra was grateful that she had taken the time to come to her and try to lift her spirits.

The day was almost here. Korra let out a resigned sigh and began mustering the energy to head out as well. Then, Asami stopped herself as if she was suddenly hesitant to leave. "Have you tried going to the spirit world?" Asami asked.

"Korra blinked in surprise. "The spirit world?"

Asami shifted her feet nervously. "I'm sorry. I don't know much of anything about spirits or Avatars. Forget I said anything."

"No, go on. I'll take any kind of suggestion."

Korra could have fallen over at what she was seeing. Asami was the one blushing now; she bit her lip and avoided looking at Korra. Talking about spirits, a subject Asami admitted to being deficient on, must have been further outside her comfort zone than Korra thought.

"Okay," Asami said. "Well, I was thinking about what you told us about meeting different kinds of spirits the first time you were in the spirit world. Maybe you could find a spirit that can help you reconnect to your past lives."

Korra stared at her.

Asami's blushing doubled, and she turned her head away. "It was a bad idea."

Korra was dumbfounded. "Asami," she whispered.

Asami looked up and met Korra's eyes.

"That's brilliant!" Korra cried out, elated. " _You're_ brilliant! Why didn't I think of this before? I can ask the spirits for help. One of them has to have some idea of how I can reconnect to the past Avatars."

Asami perked up. "Really? You think it might actually work?"

The grin Korra was wearing felt like it could split her face in half. She planted her fists on her hips, confident that this could do the trick. "It's worth a shot. What do I have to lose?"

Asami grinned at Korra's excitement. "I heard Jinora mention that people should have someone to watch over them when they meditate into the spirit world. I can do that."

Now Korra felt guilty. "I don't want to keep you. I'm sure you have a lot of stuff of your own to take care of."

"Don't be ridiculous. This is more important. You getting back your connection to past Avatars means more to the world than my managing a few empty warehouses."

The offer was touching, and Korra nodded in acceptance as she lowered herself into the lotus position. "I appreciate it. I'll try to be back soon."

Asami sat beside her and smiled as if Korra just told a joke.

"Well, I know I'm not actually going anywhere," Korra stammered. "I meant I'll come back to my body, and… Oh, you know what I mean."

"Get going, Avatar," Asami laughed. "I'll keep the lemurs away."

"Thanks." Korra closed her eyes and breathed in deeply. When she opened them again, Air Temple Island was gone, replaced by a vast and alien grassland.

It wasn't her own eyes she was seeing with, but the eyes of her spiritual self. When she stood, it wasn't really on her feet. Korra's physical body was still back in the material world with Asami keeping guard over it. Her cognitive and spiritual essence was now somewhere else, beyond what most people could see and sense. She was now free within the spirit world.

It vaguely felt as if she had come home. This place was the original domain of Raava, the spirit bonded with her own. Perhaps it was the part of Korra that was her that felt so alive in the spirit world.

This wasn't the first time Korra managed to come here by herself. Before, in her first attempts, she needed help from a guide. Jinora was a good teacher, despite the fact that she was so much younger. Now, Korra could enter the spirit world almost at will.

Korra looked around her, her gaze drifting between the multitudes of spirits dancing in the sky like ribbons caught by the wind. She took her first step while wondering if one of them might have an idea of how to help her.

The landscape rushed beneath her, sweeping Korra to the horizon. It disoriented her for a brief second before she remembered how moving about the spirit world sometimes worked. Distance was an illusion, and all points were equally close to all others.

She took another deep breath and stepped again. Purpose drove her and was her focus.

 _Aang. Think of Aang._

The spirit world rushed by her, so fast that Korra's mind could hardly register what she was seeing. She thought only of reconnecting to Aang and stepped again. She had to have faith that her spirit would take her where she needed to go. It wasn't clear to her if moments seemed like hours or hours like moments, but the landscape finally settled around her. Wherever it was she was meant to go, she had arrived.

Korra gasped, and her eyes widened in surprise. This part of the spirit world… It was not what she expected.

She was in the midst of a scraggly, desiccated wood. A copse of trees, bare of leaves, stood before her. They were twisted and gnarled things, branches intertwined, and coated with bark like sandpaper. Shimmering, white threads were strung between the branches like vast curtains. Korra felt her pulse quicken as she recognized spiderwebs.

Spiders. There must have been thousands of them around to cover such large trees in their webs. Anything with that many legs wasn't to be trusted. Korra clamped her eyes shut, afraid that something monstrous was about to appear.

This place was like something out of a nightmare. Korra recalled stories told around the cooking fires back home about angry spider spirits that came out of the darkness to snatch up misbehaving children. She used to have terrible dreams when she was a little girl about being trapped in a web while something horrible scuttled nearby, wanting to devour her. All of that came back to her, and the feeling of dread that surrounded this place became thick enough for Korra to choke on.

Korra's breathing came back under her control. She remembered what Iroh told her about the spirit world. If one feared what lay ahead, it would become something to be afraid of. Seek the light, and it could be found.

 _Seek out the light._

Korra let a moment pass before she opened her eyes again. The trees were still gnarled and festooned with webs, but it no longer felt ominous. The little copse seemed less imposing and more… homely. A little cottage of branches and webs for whatever spirit might have dwelt there. Korra was not afraid as she approached the trees.

"Hello?" she called out. "Does anyone live here? I'm the Avatar, and I'm looking for someone that might be able to help me."

Korra felt more than she heard the thrum of the webs. They vibrated, as if something massive was moving among them. The thrum rose until it became a whisper, a voice from the depths of the trees.

"Avatar…" said the voice. It was indistinct, like the swaying of old branches and the rustle of dead leaves. When she first heard it, Korra thought it to be a woman's voice, old and wizened. Then it changed, a deep baritone voice of a man. "Come…"

Korra pursed her lips in consideration. If this spirit inside was a danger, she might not be able to defend herself. She didn't have her bending since she hadn't entered the spirit world physically. Whatever lay ahead, Korra couldn't fight it if she had to.

 _No, I won't let myself think like this,_ Korra thought. _If you look for danger in the spirit world, it is all you will ever find._

Korra sighed to herself and walked among the webs and trees.

Within, she found an open space. It was like the inside of a bowl, the webs pulling the branches away from a broad and spherical lair. Only a few shafts of sunlight broke through the webbing to light the interior. Korra couldn't see much of what it contained or of who lived here.

The webs trembled, and Korra could feel something moving nearby— something large. The voice returned, again like that of an old woman. "Yes…," it said. "Yes. I can feel it. You are the Avatar. It has been many years since we last met."

"We've met before?" Korra asked as she turned about. She couldn't locate the source of the voice. It felt as if it was coming from all directions at once. Maybe from the webs themselves.

"Oh, yes…" Again, a man's voice, deep as the ocean. "Many times, in many lifetimes."

Korra noticed that the vibrations of the webs were more wild near the bottom. Thousands of threads danced amongst themselves, weaving to and fro in a chaotic jumble. Higher, towards the ceiling, the dance was less frantic, as if each strand had found its place and could not be taken from it.

The voice continued to speak, changing in tone and timbre as it did. "I was advisor to Avatar Min Jung before she was known as the slayer of the Beast of Shang. I gave shelter in the seven year winter to Avatar Zhin. When Avatar Kuruk hunted for the Face-Stealer, it was I from whom he first sought guidance."

A smile grew on Korra's face. "Then, you're a friend of the Avatar?"

"In places in memory, yes. In others, no. It was I who denied the rite of passage to Avatar Maya through my webs. It was I who stole the Spear of Wind from Avatar Ling. It was I who set the League of the Blue Arrow on their quest to imprison Avatar Hartoq."

Korra peered into the shadows surrounding her. She knew there was something in here with her besides a voice. At times, she could almost catch a glimpse of something moving at the edge of her sight. Against her will, Korra began to feel her heart beat faster in her chest.

"Who are you?" she asked.

A shadowed form lowered from the ceiling to land before her. The spirit was enormous, as big as an ostrich-horse. Its flesh was white and pure, its legs like clear crystal, and each of its eight eyes was a faceted gemstone of a different color. The great spider reared up on its back four legs and spread the other four wide. It was as if the spirit was presenting itself to Korra in all of its majesty.

"I am Kumo," the spider said in its duel-toned voice, "spirit of memory and fate. I welcome you into my web, Avatar Korra."

Korra's breath was still as she gazed upon the spider. It wasn't fear she was feeling, but awe. Perhaps a bit of hope. Memory and fate. The spirit knew past Avatars, knew her past lives. Maybe Kumo could help her reconnect with them.

Then again, Korra thought that little part about welcoming her into the web was a little worrisome. That, and she'd never been the biggest fan of anything with more than four legs. That said, there was no reason she couldn't be polite. Korra was the bridge between the material and spirit worlds, after all.

She stood straight and then bowed to Kumo. "Thank you for your welcome. I hope that you might remember me as one of the Avatars you think of as a friend."

Kumo twisted its head to the side as if considering her. "You are already making a better show of yourself than Avatar Roku."

"You knew Roku, too?"

"In passing. I once appeared to your past incarnation in a smaller form as he traveled the spirit world." Kumo made a sound that Korra interpreted as a grumpy harrumph. "You tried to squish me."

Korra scratched at the back of her head. "Um… sorry about that."

"I got over it," Kumo said, but Korra had the impression that wasn't entirely true. The spirit climbed up the walls of the lair, faceted eyes never leaving their visitor. "Now, you did not come merely to gaze upon my grandeur. The old forms must be heeded. Tell me why you are here, Avatar Korra."

Korra held her hands out wide as she explained. "Please, Kumo. Raava was taken from me and destroyed by Vaatu. She and I were able to reunite our spirits, but my connections to all of the past Avatars were severed. I can't go to them to seek guidance anymore"

"Regrettable," Kumo said. "This pains you?"

"Of course," Korra shouted. "Without them, I don't have access to their wisdom. It's just me!"

The webs trembled as Kumo laughed. "So little faith in yourself, young Avatar? I think this may be a larger concern than the one you describe."

Korra crossed her arms and looked away. "You sound like Tenzin," she grumbled.

"I think I like this Tenzin."

"Well, he's not all bad," Korra admitted. "A bit of a know-it-all, but since he kinda does know it all, I'll give him a pass."

Kumo settled at the very top of the lair. "How gracious. So, you come to my web seeking to reconnect to your previous lives."

"I do," Korra said. She was excited. Kumo sounded able and willing to help her.

"I am uncertain, Avatar Korra," Kumo said. The spider gestured with a crystalline leg towards the expanse of webbing draped down the walls of the lair. "Such a thing has never happened before. Written in my web is the history of your world and mine, and in no place in memory does Raava separate from her Avatar until now."

Korra turned to the webs. Written? How? Each individual spider thread was almost lost in the tangle. Each one twisted upon itself and those around it, pushing the other threads it came into contact with along new paths. They danced among themselves, sometimes weaving new and unexpected patterns.

Kumo's leg gently brushed Korra's cheek, turning her head from the web. "Do not stare long, Avatar. Min Jung once lost herself for weeks looking into the threads of memories yet to be made. It can drive a human mind mad."

"Memories yet to be made?" Korra asked. "Of course! You said you were the spirit of memory and fate. You can see what will happen in the future!"

"Your insight does you credit, Avatar Korra. Yet, you do not know the whole of it. What is seen in the unwoven threads are futures that may be— things that are yet to come and may never come."

"Is there a future where I reconnect to my past lives?" Korra could hear the pleading in her voice. The desperation. "If there is, how can I make sure that's the future I get?"

"The old forms must be heeded," Kumo said in the old woman's voice.

"You mentioned that before," Korra said. "What does that mean?"

"We must reach an accord."

Kumo let go of their perch and dropped from the ceiling. Korra scrambled back, out of the spider's path. She cried out when Kumo struck the ground. There was no thunderous impact like she expected to hear. Kumo's body flattened and contorted over the ground, as if suddenly immaterial except for the flesh. It became as a billowing piece of shimmering silk that settled upon the floor of the lair in a tumble.

Korra kept herself from gasping when a figure rose from the silken remnants. It was a black-haired woman, tall, young, and beautiful. Her skin was white as milk, and her eyes seemed every color imaginable at once. Crystal spines, like a spider's legs, reached over her head from her back. Kumo's flesh twisted around the woman, and it wrapped around her like a cloak. She spoke, and it was the old woman's voice.

"Sit, Avatar Korra," she said.

"Kumo?" Korra asked. She found it hard to accept that this woman was the same person as the spider creature she had been talking to.

"Were you expecting someone else?" the spirit said as she draped her spider silk cloak around her and sat.

Korra sat across from her in the lotus position. "That's a neat trick," she said.

Kumo smiled in a way that did not reach her multicolored eyes. Her voice no longer shifted. In this form it appeared to be only the woman's voice. "It is a 'neat trick'. Now, be still as I see if there is anything that can be done to solve your… problem. Once that is complete, we can reach our accord."

One of the crystal spines reached over Kumo's back and towards Korra, who fought to keep herself from flinching away. The spine inched forward and brushed against her forehead. Korra closed her eyes.

Light. Heat. Pain.

Korra's eyes snapped open, and she took in a sharp intake of air. Her breaths were coming frantic and uneven. It felt like her lungs were on fire.

"What was…" she gasped. "Did you learn anything? Can you help me?"

Kumo pulled the crystal spine back, and it settled behind her again. She looked at Korra with an inscrutable expression. Her lips twisted into something between a sneer and a pout. "It is not in my power to restore your past lives to you."

Korra didn't know if it was what she said or if it was the voice of an old woman coming from such a young face that disturbed her more. Nonetheless, Korra felt her heart sink.

"There's nothing you can do?"

Kumo sighed and turned her head away. Now, the sneer was unmistakable. Strange, that Korra thought she prefered the spider face to this human-like one. Kumo's eyes darted around, almost looking as if she was listening to someone argue with her. "About your past lives, there is nothing I can do."

Korra slouched, feeling defeated.

"But," Kumo continued, "it is made clear to me that the Avatar is owed a debt by spirits."

"A debt?" Korra asked.

"You are Avatar Korra, she who has reopened the spirit portals. What you have done has been a great… benefit… to me. The old forms must be heeded, and I must repay you."

Korra shook her head in confusion. "But if you can't help me reconnect, what can you do for me?"

Kumo gestured upwards towards the web. One of the spines from her back extended upwards and stroked the threads. "I shall offer you an opportunity only a handful of humans have been given in the past. Look upon where what was meets what may be. There lies the 'is'. Near to there, the possibilities of what may be are more stable."

"More predictable?" Korra asked.

"Indeed. Look here upon this thread." Kumo's spine touched upon a strand that seemed much thicker than the others. It didn't dance as wildly, but still it swayed around the others. The effect it had on the web was dramatic. Thinner threads were drawn towards it, where they twisted in new and frantic contrast to the path they held before.

As Korra watched, she understood. This thread was an element of great change in the weave of fate.

"This thread," Kumo whispered, "is your own, Avatar. It reaches through the depths of time and into countless futures. Its path is perhaps the most unpredictable of all, for upon it lies the fate of so many others. It reaches into futures where it endures, others in which it is cut short, and still others where the unimaginable happens. As it did when your past lives were taken from you."

Korra gaped at what she was seeing, understanding what this meant. This was a representation of her life— all of her lives. She couldn't look away."

"And this," Kumo said, "is a thread that has the potential to change yours." She plucked at a thread near to the Avatar's, so thin and seemingly insignificant. "Soon, the life that governs this thread shall have a choice between two options. Upon one path, your thread shall bend as such, and as such upon the other."

As Kumo spoke, Korra saw the thread of her life bend one way and then another. The weave of fate changed dramatically as her thread was pulled in either direction. It wasn't just her life that would change, but hundreds of others. Thousands. Millions.

Korra had difficulty finding her voice. "What choice do they have to make?"

"It does not matter, Avatar Korra. What I offer you as repayment for your service to me and others of my kind is the power to decide which outcome you prefer. I will show you the memories of what may come, and you will decide the fate you find preferable."

Korra leaned forward. "You can do that? You can decide which future will be the truth?"

Kumo nodded. "It is not a simple task. I can influence the path of the weave if I so desire, but this power comes at no small cost. I will require something of you, something precious. It will be lost to you forever."

Korra's heart felt as if it was about to burst from her chest. "What cost?"

"Memory. The memory of what you see. Such things hold great power here. The emotions you experience upon the viewing of the future will be strong. Taking them will give me strength and will allow me to assure the fate you decide upon."

Korra raised an eyebrow at the spirit. "You're saying… I can choose, but I won't remember what it is I chose?"

"More than that," Kumo said. "I will take from you all remembrance of what you are about to see. Every thought, every emotion that it stirs within you, will be mine. You must understand me, Avatar Korra, this is a terrible price I ask of you."

"I don't see how it is," Korra said. It felt as if she was entering into a win win scenario. She wasn't really losing much of anything. Why would she miss something she didn't even have yet?

Kumo stared at Korra with impassive consideration. "You will see. When the time comes, I have my doubts you will be so willing to pay this price. Do we have an accord, Avatar?"

"We do," Korra said.

"The old forms are heeded," Kumo said, and her cloak swirled about her.

Korra blinked, and Kumo returned to the spider form. The spirit scuttled away and climbed up the webbing. Crystalline arms reached down and grasped the threads. Slowly, they parted to reveal what looked like a passage.

"Enter, Avatar Korra," Kumo said, "and see one possible memory that may come."

Steeling herself as if for a fight, Korra mustered her courage and stepped through the passage Kumo had opened for her. She looked up as she passed beneath Kumo, completely aware of the look of avarice in those gemstone eyes.

She continued forward undaunted. These memories Kumo wanted may have been important to the spirit, but if Korra could choose a future that might benefit so many people in the world, it was a price she would pay willingly.

Korra was through Kumo's web, and the spirit's lair had vanished. She was in another place, and it no longer felt like the spirit world. It was like a dream, or more the memory of a dream. Things were indistinct, only coming into focus when she put her attention upon them. All else blurred and faded into the periphery of her awareness.

Images coalesced before her. She could make out figures and distant voices. It was a struggle to focus her mind to bring these apparitions clarity. Once she began to perceive this vision within the webs more clearly, she took an involuntary step back.

"What is this?" Korra shouted.

She was there. No, she was there and looking at herself. Why was she in chains, suspended over a lake of fire? Men and women she didn't recognize stood before her other self. They were all within a cave lit by glowing crystals, a ruin of some ancient place she'd never seen.

"This is one possible future," said Kumo's deep, male voice.

Korra looked to her side and saw a tall, muscular figure standing beside her. His skin was pure white, and he wore the spider silk cloak. His eyes were the same as Kumo's female form. Korra didn't bother to ask who he was this time.

"What's happening?" she asked him.

Kumo turned and looked at her. His multicolored eyes were filled with sorrow. They were filled with sympathy. "They are killing you."

Korra's eyes snapped to the scene playing out before her. The bald man at the head of her captors was speaking to Korra's other self, his words saturated with the righteousness of a zealot. Korra watched in horror as they forced poison into her body. She screamed along with the Korra of this future. She could feel her pain, her terror.

She cried out to Kumo, "If this is what's going to happen, I could never choose this future. Show me something else!"

Kumo stepped closer to her. "It is not over. Your thread will not end here."

Tears ran hot down Korra's face. She had to escape this place. She could feel the poison rushing through her other self's veins as if it was within hers. It was unbearable. Burning. Violating. "It hurts. I'm dying!"

"She is, but she will not perish." The male form of Kumo looked from Korra to the vision of the future. "Forgive me, Avatar. I do not show you this to hurt you, but to show you. We may leave."

Almost regretfully, he waved his hand. Behind him, a curtain of spiderwebs appeared from thin air. It parted, and Kumo stepped through as he beckoned Korra to follow. She didn't hesitate. Korra left the screams of her future self behind.

Ragged, panting breaths escaped her lungs, but the pain had vanished. Korra hugged her arms around herself as she trembled at the memory of that possible future.

Kumo stood next to her, silent. Korra wanted to send him away so he wouldn't see her like this. However, she couldn't bring herself to tell him to go.

The spirit allowed her a time to recover from the experience, but he soon drew her attention back. "We have arrived."

"Where?" Korra asked.

"To the other path. The other possible future."

They now stood on a hilltop, and Korra saw another version of herself. The future Korra stood next to Bolin and Mako, staring down into a valley below.

Korra moved to stand behind the three apparitions and craned her neck to see what they found so interesting. There was frenetic movement in the green valley below. When it became clear, she breathed in sharply.

"Airbenders," Korra whispered.

There were dozens of them, maybe more than fifty. She watched as they bent air into cyclones and gusts of wind. They threw themselves into the air and took flight on gliders.

"This is amazing," she said to Kumo. She could hear the delight in her voice. "New airbenders! How is this possible?"

Kumo's eyes were dark. "Is hope what you see? Look closer, Avatar."

His words give Korra pause, and she did as he said. The airbenders were dancing amongst each other, their bending giving a spectacular display of power. She didn't understand what Kumo was referring to until the vision of Mako cried out.

"Stop!" he shouted. "The Red Lotus is lying to you!"

Korra covered her mouth with her hands. Her eyes widened in shock when she realized the truth.

A young woman was blasted from the sky. She fell several yards to the ground. A group of other airbenders came to her aid, while others came gliding in to continue their attack. The scene was repeated across the valley. Tornadoes and hurricanes battered against each other. There were screams.

The airbenders were in a battle. With themselves.

"The Civil War of the Air Temples," Kumo said. "That is how history may remember this battle and the ones that will follow."

Korra fell to her knees. Her hands were shaking. Why wasn't the other her trying to stop this? Korra looked to her and wanted to cry out. She was just standing there with her arms crossed, looking as if she approved of what she was seeing.

Foreign emotions leaked into Korra's awareness. She could feel what the other her did. She felt anger and resentment. Also, a tiny glimmer of guilt and sadness, a desire to know that she had done the right thing, and worry for someone far away she knew was in danger. It is for him that she did this.

"I will cause the war?" Korra said, unbelieving. "Why? There are new airbenders. The Air Nation… How could I let them fight each other?"

Kumo passed in front of her, and Korra could feel his eyes on her face. "A conflict of change versus tradition. Ideals made manifest, frightening some and enticing others. Ancient secrets thought lost and better left forgotten. The quest for knowledge seldom leads to understanding."

Korra felt her teeth grind together. Such a powerful rage burned in Korra's chest. She roared to the sky, frustrated and helpless. The other her of this future was just standing there. Korra could barely see her anymore through tears of impotent fury. She watched the battle below, and she _did nothing_!

"Why?" Korra shouted at her. "Stop this. Stop this!" She couldn't hear her, but Korra needed her to explain how she could let something like this happen.

"You will have your reasons, Avatar," Kumo said. "Good reasons. Noble reasons. You cannot look upon a single point of memory and be fit to judge those within it."

"What reason could there be?"

"You will have your reasons," Kumo repeated. "And they will have theirs."

The Mako of this future turned towards the other Korra. They exchanged heated words and Bolin moved to stand with this Korra against his brother.

"No," Korra said through her tears. "It's not... We're Team Avatar. We stand together through anything. _This isn't what will happen!_ "

Mako made the first attack. His firebending scorched Bolin, and the two began to fight. Flames were thwarted by pillars of earth and stone, and the ground shook. Meanwhile, the other Korra ran down the hillside to join the airbending battle. Which side, Korra couldn't tell. She didn't care.

Mako and Bolin fighting each other… It was unthinkable. In all her life, Korra had never met two siblings more devoted to each other. Mako… He and Korra had their problems, but she couldn't imagine anything that would bring him to turn against her or Bolin. This battle was because of something she did— something she chose.

 _What have I done? What will I do? At least in the future where I was poisoned, I was the only one being hurt._

Korra looked to Kumo, and he was already forming a new web. He motioned for her to follow.

"What happens after this?" Korra asked wearily. It felt as if all her strength had left her.

"That is what I shall show you," Kumo said. He took Korra's hand to help her to her feet and lead her further into this possible future. "You will end that war," he explained as they stepped into a place Korra knew. "Though, others will always take their place."

It was her parents' home in the Southern Water Tribe. Mako, Bolin, and Asami were there. So were Tenzin and his kids, now so much older than Korra remembered them. Jinora had her airbending master's tattoos, as did Ikki. She actually did get lightning bolts instead of arrows.

"What's going on here?" Korra asked.

"The bonds between you and your friends have been tested. Tested, and now stronger for it. You will have learned much, Avatar Korra. The choices you made were proven right and just. The world moves on."

Korra felt as if she was able to breathe again for the first time in days. She had begun to think that every vision Kumo gave would be worse than the last.

She tried to listen to her friends speak to one another. They talked of past battles and conflicts she didn't yet know about. One problem had barely ended when another came to take its place. As they discussed the state of the world, Korra could hear the fatigue in their voices. They were spent and weary, and another daunting trial stood before them.

A future Korra entered the room, and everyone went still. As before, Korra shared a part of what she was feeling. She was so tired. Lonely. Resigned. Sad.

The other Korra looked around at everyone and hung her head. "I'm sorry," she said, "but I couldn't convince him to come back. My father joined his army with Zaheer's. They're sailing for the Fire Nation as we speak."

The Asami of this future moved to stand beside her. "What do you need us to do?" she asked.

The other Korra raised her head. Her eyes were hard, like twin sapphires. "We're going after them. We can't let Zaheer and my father kill the new Fire Lord."

Kumo pulled Korra away through another web. In her shock, she struggled to stay. "Wait! What happens to my father? Kumo? I have to know what happens to my father!"

They were back in Kumo's lair. The great spider settled next to Korra as she pounded her fist against the webs, desperate to get back to that future.

"Let me back in! I have to know what happens."

Kumo made a distinctively angry sound not unlike a buzzard-wasp. "Calm yourself and cease your vandalism of my threads. Then, I shall tell you."

Korra whirled around to face the spirit. Her grip on her temper was loosening. If she had her bending in the spirit world, she would have likely been tossing fire around.

"What you saw was yet another threat to the balance of the world," Kumo explained, "one you shall overcome as all those before. This future shall seem an unending journey from one trial to the next. It is a constant of this memory of what may be. Seldom shall be your peace."

Korra's legs gave out on her. It was by pure luck that she landed in something resembling a sitting position. "The future with me being chained up and tortured is actually starting to look appealing," she managed to say.

"This surprises me," Kumo said. "That future in which you are poisoned sees the greatest valleys, though I suppose it also possesses the highest mountains."

Korra cocked an eyebrow at the blasted spider. "Is one of those a good thing?"

"Of course. I may have judged you too shortsighted to understand the underlying difference between these futures. I will not make such a mistake again. Allow me to explain." Kumo raised a leg in a parody of a lecturing posture. "One future will destroy you, then it will reforge you. The other shall see you weary, but never tested beyond your ability to endure."

Korra thought she got the gist of it, but Kumo hadn't addressed all of her concerns. "What about everyone else? My friends and my family?"

"In each of these futures, you shall see threads severed for all time, but these threads will not end in vain."

Korra gritted her teeth. "You're saying that no matter which I choose, people I care about will die?"

"This is unavoidable. All must bear this burden. Especially the Avatar."

"And my father? In that future we just saw, what happens to him?"

Kumo shook their head sadly. The spider's next words made Korra's stomach sink. "That will be the last you see of him alive. However, you will find solace in that his eventual sacrifice will allow many thousands of others to live in peace. Your pleas are late in reaching him, but he will hear them. He will be remembered as the greatest chieftain the Southern Water Tribe has ever known."

Korra held her head in her hands. She knew her father was alive in the present, safe and bored in the South Pole. This future hadn't happened yet, and it wouldn't for many years. That didn't stop her from feeling the grief she knew this future would bring her.

 _Tonraq. Dad. Whatever time we have left together in this life could never be enough._

Neither future felt like a good one. Airbenders killing each other. Her father joining someone she'd never heard of instead of listening to her, then dying. Those chains and that poison. Korra felt herself shiver.

"There is something else you must see," Kumo said as Korra was taken through the web one more time. "I told you that one future shall see you reforged. Are you curious as to what you shall be made into?"

 _I am,_ Korra thought. _Call me a fool, but I am._ She followed Kumo through the webs.

They arrived in a new place. Korra found her future self easily. She looked on this version of her and wrinkled her nose. "My hair's short," she said in surprise.

"I'm told that many will like it," Kumo stated in his male form.

"It's not for me," Korra insisted.

"As you say."

"And I look like bison dung."

"You _have_ been living in a swamp for a few days."

Korra stood in a cave that had been turned into an earthy dwelling. There was a fire with a pot of soup simmering on top of it. Jinora, Ikki, and Meelo were there, though only Jinora had tattoos. An old woman in threadbare clothes was staring down at her feet with blind eyes as Korra's future self stood in deep concentration.

"What's going on?" Korra asked. "Woah! Is that Toph?"

Kumo nodded. "After three years of your physical self being ravaged by poison, and your spiritual self being ravaged by doubt and fear, you are finally removing the last of it from your body."

Korra watched as the other her, wearing green rags, took a stance and began the process. She was fascinated as droplets of a metallic poison pooled around her wrists and drifted away from her body. "Three years? It takes me three years to recover from being hurt?"

Kumo nodded again. "Three years while the world is without its Avatar. In your place, a terrible threat has moved in to usurp your position. A warlord will arise to bring a false unity in your absence. After this event you witness here, you will try to stop her, and you will fail."

"Maybe constantly being weary and in a crisis isn't so bad," Korra growled. "At least there you say I was winning."

"A point of interest," Kumo said offhandedly, "you shall become a metalbender in this future. It is a skill no Avatar before you has acquired."

"Really? That's something, I guess."

A web passed over her, and she was now further into this future. Kumo moved to stand before her, blocking her view of what lay ahead. He reached forward to hold onto Korra's shoulders.

"Heed what I say now, Avatar. This memory of what may come will see you pushed beyond anything you have endured in this or in any other future. At times, you will feel your trials are insurmountable. You will look ahead and see nothing but darkness. Hope is no longer within your heart. Avatar Korra, you will break. You will suffer. You will fall. And then…"

Kumo stood aside to let her see.

She saw snother future self and her enemy, a woman Korra didn't recognize. They were in the heart of Republic City amongst the vines. A massive weapon she could never have imagined was firing a destructive beam of pure spirit energy.

Korra's heart clenched as she remembered the feeling of this weapon. It was born of the same evil that spawned the vines in Republic City. This was a weapon somehow made from the remnants that Vaatu left in the material world. The weapon was out of control, and it was about to annihilate the unknown woman with the power she had foolishly sought to control.

"Then," Kumo whispered, "you will soar."

The other Korra leapt in front of the beam to shield her enemy. The primal, destructive power of the beam parted before her in a cascade of light.

Korra couldn't look away. This couldn't be her. It wasn't possible. Unfettered. Unafraid. Limitless. This was more than an Avatar.

She looked upon herself and saw a goddess.

Everything around them was consumed as a new spirit portal was ripped into the fabric of the world. The light was painful. It was staggering and terrifying. It was glorious.

Then, the webs fell around her.

"Republic City," Korra rasped, breathless. She was back in Kumo's lair. Her voice was hoarse, and she had tears streaming from her eyes. "It was destroyed."

"Shaken," the spider said, "but not lost."

"How can the world recover from something like that? What will a new spirit portal mean?"

"The world will have its Avatar, returned and reborn, to guide it. The Avatar Korra of this future will have surpassed her predecessors, and she will have led the world through the greatest change it has seen since the first spirits entered into your world."

Korra wasn't ready for that burden. She could feel it in her bones, she was not ready. But… maybe after going though what the future Korra did… or what she will go through… Korra _would_ be ready. It was a lot to take in. She felt the weight of the responsibility pressing down with enough force to crush her.

Kumo's leg brushed a tear from Korra's cheek. "Your willingness to risk the future incarnations of the Avatar as well as your own life, your empathy and understanding of your enemy, the compassion you show to those who despise you, it will allow you to accomplish a feat that even Avatar Aang was never able to do."

Korra wiped at her eyes with her wrist and looked up at Kumo. "And what's that?"

"You will stop an implacable and uncompromising foe, one set upon destruction, with understanding and love." Kumo crawled back onto the weave. "You will convince her to abandon her path and seek the light once more. Were Avatar Aang to witness such a thing, he would weep with pride."

Korra's heart was pounding. Her hands shook as they wiped at her eyes again. "And what happens after that?"

"Beyond this point, that future is in more flux than any other I know. So many new threads, the likes of which I have never seen. But I can tell you this, your greatest trials will likely be behind you."

Korra couldn't help but snort at that vague assurance. "Likely?"

"What can I say? The future is rarely certain."

Korra's feet moved as if by their own will. She paced the length of Kumo's lair. "And what do you think? You sound like you prefer that future. You said before that opening the spirit portals was helpful to you. So, is that it? You want this future so you can have one more?"

"I will not lie to you, Avatar," Kumo said. "The portals grant me easier access to the memories of your world. Yes, this does make me stronger in mine. However…" The spider turned its head towards the web. Faceted eyes stared, and Korra was certain she saw a hesitance within them. "However, this future terrifies me. Ever has my strength been in the knowing. My words and influence may tug on the threads, leading to outcomes and events I desire. From my web, I may touch deftly upon fate and be as an arrow speeding into the depths of time. That strength is diminished within this memory that may be. The unknown is my weakness. I fear it, but one cannot allow fear alone to decide one's fate, nor the fate of the world."

Korra stared at nothing for a long time. What she had seen, most of it had been awful. Some parts of either future gave her cause to hope for a favorable outcome, but those were few and far between.

"Have you made your decision?" Kumo asked.

"No!" Korra shouted. "Unending conflict or catastrophic conflict? That's like choosing between being eaten by a shark-squid or a skunk-bear!"

"Or an angry spider spirit," Kumo muttered just loud enough for Korra to hear. It then made a noise like a sigh. "There is one other thing I can show you that may help you to decide."

"At this point, I'll take anything. What's this going to be?"

Kumo parted the webs. "This is not about the world, not entirely. This memory that may never come is about a path you share with another."

Korra didn't fully understand, but she meant what she had said. She would listen to anything that might help her make sense of these futures. She took a steadying breath before passing through the webs.

Kumo brought her to a wedding. At first, Korra gawked at the surroundings. It was Air Temple Island. Beautiful decorations surrounded them, as did the sound of applause and joyous shouting.

"It's a nice change," she said. She looked over her shoulder towards Republic City across the bay. It was whole and undamaged, meaning it must have been the future without the poison and the spirit weapon. The faces of people she knew and loved surrounded her, smiles on their lips and tears in their eyes.

Kumo's male form spoke into her ear. "Prepare yourself, Avatar Korra. This is this future's darkest moment for you."

"Why?" Korra asked, shocked at the statement. "Everyone looks happy. Who's getting married?"

She looked towards the altar. Tenzin was officiating. Korra saw herself holding flowers at the bride's side, Bolin escorting the groom.

Mako and Asami were joining hands at the altar. This was their wedding.

"Ha!" Korra laughed. "You think this is something I'm afraid of?"

Asami was radiant in her dress. Makeup and hair were pristine. Korra had always known Asami was beautiful, but now she stood like a beacon. Mako cut quite the dashing figure. Korra noticed a few scars on his face that she'd never seen before. It seemed this day came after a long and hard journey for him as well. Oh, and Bolin! Korra couldn't imagine ever seeing the big softy without smiling. The comical way he wept at his brother's wedding was too sweet for words.

Kumo stepped forward, leading Korra down the aisle between the seated guests. "You learn with whom your heart truly lies and know that they are forever outside of your reach."

Korra stuck out her tongue and mimiced a dry heave. "Please. I'm over this. Mako and I don't work out as a couple. I know it. He knows it. Honestly, I'm glad for them. Look at his face! Everyone's happy."

"Is that what you see?" Kumo whispered. He stood beside the bride and groom.

Korra ignored the spirit. "If anything, I'm just surprised Asami is going to give him another chance. Wow, he must have done something spectacular to convince her."

"When given no other option…" Kumo said softly.

Korra gave Kumo a sidelong look. Just what was the spirit trying to get at? Why wouldn't Asami be happy at her own wedding? She did seem to have a look in her eyes that Korra couldn't readily put her finger on. It almost looked like she was regretting being there, but that was normal on a wedding day, wasn't it?

Confused at what she was supposed to find, Korra finally looked at the her of this future. The other Korra had tears in her eyes like everyone else.

Korra's heart clenched. She felt what consumed her other self. Those weren't happy tears, but tears of pain and heartbreak. Desolation. That was how she felt when she looked at…

"I don't understand," Korra murmured. "The 'one with whom my heart truly lies' isn't Mako?"

"It never truly was," Kumo said as he walked past her and back down the aisle, away from the altar. "Ever will you love this man. Ever shall he love you. He is fated to remain your brother and dear friend. Mako is not meant to claim your heart, nor you his."

The other self wiped at her eyes and smiled in the way Korra did when she was trying to convince others that she was okay. Was she worried about Asami? Did she think Asami was making a mistake? Would Mako hurt her again? Korra couldn't understand why she would feel like this, seeing Asami on her wedding day to someone… someone else.

"Oh…"

It was Asami.

Korra covered her heart with her hand. Her chest felt tight as she began to understand. She and Asami, they started as rivals for the heart of a boy, they became closer, they became friends, and then…

 _I fell in love with her,_ Korra realized. _For whatever reason, I'll never admit it to myself, let alone to her._

This was the moment in this future when she would realize with whom her heart lies.

Korra understood now, but it was difficult to believe. Yes, she'd begun to care for Asami, but _love_? Maybe?

Asami had become the person who would be exactly what Korra needed when she needed her. Korra felt warm whenever she thought of her. She missed her when she was gone. She felt stronger when Asami stood close to her and said her name.

It was for reasons like this that Korra wished Tenzin and her father wouldn't have kept her isolated in the South Pole all her life. She'd never dealt with things like this before— things like… people… and… feelings. She was so out of her depth that all this time she had thought she just never knew what it was like to have another girl as a friend. How the blazes was she supposed to know the difference?

By the looks of this vision, Korra wouldn't know until it was too late to do anything about it.

This future… she couldn't let this be her future.

Despite the grief Korra knew she would find here— the wars and the loss of her father— She would have chosen this path, a future without devastation. She would never know real peace for long, but the world would be closer to what it was, what she felt it should remain. Wouldn't this be better?

But, if that were true, how could she choose her own happiness over that of the world? Korra would be betraying everything it meant to be the Avatar.

 _No, this is a sacrifice I'll have to make, isn't it?_ she thought. Korra turned away from the wedding. She couldn't bear to watch anymore.

"Kumo," she choked out through the tightness in her throat. "I've made my decision."

"I have not shown you the other future," Kumo pointed out.

"I don't need to see it," she said. "If I do, I don't know if I'll be strong enough to make the right choice."

"And you truly believe that this future is the right choice?"

Korra looked around for the webs. She wanted them to appear so she wouldn't have to watch something that should be happy and wasn't. "Of course it is! Republic City is still there. The Avatar wasn't missing for three years. This is a better future!"

"So certain," Kumo said, almost to himself. "I am tempted to allow you this choice unchallenged. I have no fear of this outcome, yet I am compelled to provide you this knowledge. Along the other path, the one in which you are poisoned, just as the Avatar sees the lowest of valleys and the highest of mountains, just as the Avatar is unmade and reforged, so too shall be the world."

The webs appeared, and Korra watched Kumo part the strands for her.

"Are you not curious to see what it shall become?"

 _Will I have the resolve to say no to what I see?_ Korra took a tentative step through the webs to see what lay beyond.

They stood on the edge of an immense crater. Downtown Republic City was in ruins. Korra's stomach felt like it did a cartwheel as she looked around at the destruction. Spirit vines covered the floor of the crater in what was once several city blocks. At the center lay a new spirit portal, shining with golden light. When she looked at that light, Korra felt a deep sense of unease. It shouldn't be.

"Do not merely look at what you expect to see," Kumo said to her. "If you look for what is dark, it is all you will ever know."

The words echoed within Korra. It was almost exactly what Iroh had said to her. Could it really have been that simple? Korra closed her eyes, and she took a deep breath.

Seek out the light.

When she opened her eyes again, Korra looked around her. Yes, downtown Republic City had been shattered, but… there was much of the city that hadn't been harmed. Electric lights shone across the bay, and fireworks exploded in dazzling displays above Air Temple Island. Korra could hear the sound of music coming from over the water. Even the vines no longer seemed the choking, suffocating presence they once were. Spirits swirled around the portal. They celebrated as much as the people across the water. This wasn't a place of destruction.

This was a place filled with life. With new growth. With _healing_. Kumo was right. The world had been torn apart but had been reforged into something new— perhaps into something stronger for the experience.

The world was changed, and something beautiful lay on the other side of the coming dawn. Korra realized that she was looking on it all with a smile on her face.

Her attention was drawn to something moving below her. Two people, one a bit taller than the other, approached the spirit portal. Korra didn't think she was breathing anymore.

The Korra of this future walked forward, and Asami was at her side. They were both carrying travel packs. An expedition into the spirit world? Perhaps after everything that had happened, they decided that a vacation was in order.

Korra gasped when it hit her that they were alone. Just the two of them. She didn't know if she even dare hope for what this might mean.

Her other self looked to Asami, and Asami looked back at her. They joined hands as they walked towards the portal, their eyes never leaving the other. They stepped into the light and turned towards each other. As golden light took them into the spirit world, they gazed into each other's eyes with such love and trust that Korra could feel it within her whole being.

 _I love her, and Asami loves me back._

"Have you made your decision?" Kumo asked.

Korra knew she wouldn't be strong enough to deny this. But, was that wrong? This future had infinite possibilities before it. Some of those possibilities may have been dark, but she saw so much hope for a destiny that was bright. That hope seemed more precious than a future of unchanging trial, of knowing that things were as good as they were ever going to be. That other future wasn't taking the world as it was and being content, it was apathy. It represented being too scared to take a risk, to recognize the feelings she held, and to take that first step towards something wonderful. It was being afraid of what may come.

She admitted to herself that she was afraid, but Korra knew she would overcome it. She had seen that she could. Not because she was the Avatar, but because she was as Asami saw her. She was Korra, and she could overcome anything.

"I've made my decision," she said to Kumo. "I know the future I want."

"Choose," Kumo demanded.

"Any future I would choose would have her in it. I want this. Please, let this be what happens."

The webs brought them back to Kumo's lair for the last time. The spirit took the female form again.

Korra could feel it. At that moment, in the physical world, Asami sat beside her. Korra's fated love sat beside her. What would Korra say when she saw her? That future was still years away, but were those feelings present in Asami now like they were in Korra? Was she watching over her with the beginnings of the love Korra had seen in her eyes?

"It shall be done," Kumo said. "The price must be exacted."

Cold panic washed over Korra. Kumo wanted her memories. Everything she had seen would be taken from her.

"Forget? No!"

How could she go back to not knowing? How long would it be before she realized what her feelings for Asami really meant again?

Korra hesitated and backed away from Kumo. She shook her head in denial. "You can't. Not when I finally understand."

Kumo became the spider. The great spirit advanced towards her and reared up to loom over her. "I warned you before we began, Avatar Korra, that the price would be more terrible than you suspected. It is too late to turn back now. The old forms must be heeded."

Korra wanted to turn to run, escape from this spirit that wanted to take these memories of what she had seen from her, but something held her back.

 _No, I can't run from this,_ Korra thought.

The price she agreed to meant that this future she had seen would come to pass. If she didn't, Korra might lose her chance to be with her. She might be consigned to face a future devoid of hope or love.

Cold sweat appeared on Korra's brow. She was afraid. Korra knew that she would find her place in Asami's arms, but the path she would have to take to get there would be a terrible one. Poison and fear and darkness. With her memories of the future gone, Korra would walk that path without the knowledge that she could make it through to the light on the other side. As Kumo said, she would break, she would suffer, and she would fall.

 _Then, I will soar. And Asami will soar beside me._

Korra stilled her feet. If this was what must be done, it would be. She sat in front of Kumo and raised her chin proudly. "I will pay your price."

Kumo became the woman once more. She sat in front of Korra, and her multicolored eyes searched the Avatar's face as if suspecting her of deception. "You will surrender your memories as we agreed?"

"I will."

"Very well. The old forms are heeded." She reached towards Korra with one of the crystal spines from her back.

"Wait," Korra said hurriedly. "There's one more thing."

An impatient frown appeared on Kumo's face. Korra decided that she preferred the spirit as a man.

"Ask," Kumo demanded.

"I want to know about the thread that causes all of this. Who is it? What are they about to decide?"

Kumo dropped the frown. She looked towards her web, then back to Korra. "Does it really matter?"

"I suppose not. I'll just forget about them, too, won't I?" Korra prepared to surrender her memories. Before she did, she held onto that feeling she had when she saw her future self and Asami looking into each other's eyes. One final moment to enjoy the revelation that she was in love. At the very least, Korra knew she would have the opportunity to feel this again for the first time. "I'm ready."

Light. Heat. Pain.

Korra's eyes snapped open, and she took in a sharp intake of air. Her breaths came frantic and uneven. It felt like her lungs were on fire.

"What was…" she gasped. "Did you learn anything? Can you help me?"

Kumo pulled the crystal spine back, and it settled behind her again. She looked at Korra with a compassionate smile on her lips. "It is not in my power to restore your past lives to you. I am sorry."

Korra didn't know if it was what she said or if it was the voice of an old woman coming from such a young face that disturbed her more. Nonetheless, her heart sank.

"There's nothing you can do?"

"I regret that there is not. The past lives of the Avatar hold much of history's wisdom, and their loss is a tragedy that will be felt in your world and mine for many years to come."

Korra slouched, defeated. "I see."

"Do not be troubled, Avatar Korra," Kumo said. "In the spirit world, you'll often see that you can find something you didn't know you were looking for. Sometimes, you don't even know you have found it."

Korra raised a confused eyebrow at the spirit. "So, do you mean I should give up on reconnecting to my past lives?"

"Is that what you heard? No, I would never counsel an Avatar to give up hope. Your future is before you, Avatar Korra. Perhaps you should see what it has in store for you, rather than dwell on what is lost."

Korra frowned, but she heard the wisdom in Kumo's words. She didn't like it, but she accepted it. "If you say so. Thank you for trying to help. I really do appreciate it."

Kumo rose to her feet. The cloak swirled around her, and she again became the spider. The spirit of memory and fate crawled up the walls of the lair and merged back into the shadows.

"Farewell, Avatar Korra," Kumo said, their shifting voice again one with the webs. "If ever you find yourself in the spirit world again, perhaps on a sojourn from your worldly duties, you might call on me once more. I imagine I might have an interesting tale to tell you at such a time."

A strange spirit, but not the worst Korra had come across by far. Korra felt as if she'd wasted enough time for now. She wouldn't reconnect to Aang today, probably not anytime soon if Kumo was any indication. Though, she didn't feel as if the possibility was hopeless anymore. Korra took comfort in that.

She closed her eyes and breathed in deeply. When she opened them again, she was back on Air Temple Island. The dawn had come and gone. Korra stared in confusion at the sun hovering over the skyline. It hadn't felt as if she had been in the spirit world that long. Time must have gotten away from her somehow.

"You're awake," Asami said. She sat next to Korra, just beyond arm's reach. Her knees were tucked beneath her chin, but she didn't seem to be bothered by how long she had been kept waiting. "Did you have any luck?"

"No," Korra sighed. She turned to look at her, making sure Asami saw that she was smiling and not disappointed. "I did meet an interesting spirit, though. Kinda strange, but nice enough. She told me the same thing you did, that I shouldn't give up hope."

Asami looked away. "I guess it was too much to expect that something like this could be fixed with one trip to the spirit world."

The breeze caught Asami's hair, and Korra was struck by a sudden and powerful sense that she meant to tell her something. Korra stared at her for a moment, trying to summon up what that might have been.

"I think it helped," Korra said to fill the silence. "I can't really explain why, but I don't feel so alone anymore. Maybe Kumo helped me more than she let on. Thanks for suggesting I try this."

Asami was beaming as she got to her feet. She offered a hand up, and Korra accepted. "Anytime," Asami said. "So, off to see to the vines with Tenzin?"

Korra hung her head. " _Bleh_. He's probably waiting there for me. I suppose I should head over to that press conference of Raiko's afterwards and tell everyone how it goes with the vines."

Asami gave her a sympathetic look.

Korra watched her out of the corner of her eye. Whatever it had been that she wanted to say to her seemed to be completely gone. Korra didn't have a clue what it might have been. She pushed the thought aside. If it was important, It would come back to her.

"Are you busy this afternoon?" Korra asked.

Asami shook her head. "No, not really. Why?"

Korra was unsure of why she was asking, but she guessed she'd gone too far now to turn back. "Would you mind coming to the press conference? I'm starting to get the feeling that I could use someone to talk to afterwards."

Asami's smile could have banished the shadows from Kumo's lair. "I'd like that. We can just spend the rest of the day together, and you won't have to worry about being the Avatar for a little while."

"Sounds perfect," Korra said. "I'll see you then. I should go meet Tenzin and Jinora."

Korra waved goodbye to her as she ran off. A weight she didn't realize was on her felt as if it had just been lifted. She found herself looking forward to spending some time alone with someone she cared for. She and Asami had grown closer, and Korra couldn't have been happier for that.

"I'll see you later, Korra," Asami called after her. "Good luck."

Korra found her glider soon after, and she took off for Republic City.

* * *

It had been thirteen years, and he was finally a free man again.

The boat came to a stop at a simple, wooden dock. He caught the rope the dockworker threw to him, and he tied it off. The man looked back towards the ocean, and found that he still could hardly believe that he was seeing what he was. His floating, wooden prison lay far out of sight, and he resolved to never lay eyes on such a place again.

"Ghazan," Zaheer called to him, "we should be out of town by nightfall."

Ghazan nodded in agreement and got out of the boat. It was his first step on solid earth in over a decade. He reveled in it.

Once again, Zaheer was his savior. Ghazan had lost track of how many times he had saved his life. He owed Zaheer more than he thought he could ever repay.

He looked older now. Zaheer's time inside his own prison hadn't been kind. Maybe it was just strange seeing him with hair. That would take some getting used to. That and the fact that he was an airbender now. Zaheer had called his new abilities a sign that their course was righteous. Ghazan wished he could have had as much faith in what lay ahead.

As they walked through the coastal town, Ghazan opened his mouth to speak. He had had nothing to do for thirteen years but listen to the gossip of his guards and think. Ghazan used to be so certain of the path Zaheer had planned for the Red Lotus, but now he had doubts.

He had heard a lot about this Avatar Korra. She had grown into a formidable young woman since Ghazan and his comrades tried to kidnap her as a little girl, and by all accounts, she was not the same as Avatar Aang before her. Already, she had opened the portals to the spirit world, a goal the Red Lotus shared. She was said to be a political enemy of the president of the United Republic. Everything Ghazan heard told of a proactive force for change. Maybe she could be reasoned with. An Avatar such as her might see the worthiness of their cause. If nothing else, she might not count herself as one of the Red Lotus' enemies.

Ghazan had always been Zaheer's right hand. His counsel was valued. If he advised a new course of action, Zaheer would listen to it. Ghazan knew he could convince him to attempt to ally with Korra.

They didn't have to destroy her.

His mind was made up. "Zaheer, there's something I need to talk to you about."

Zaheer turned his head to listen.

Before Ghazan could speak, he felt a flash of sharp, burning pain on the back of his right hand. He clenched his teeth and fought back a snarl as he looked down at his hand.

A big spider, white with transparent legs, leapt from his hand to the ground and scuttled away. It was too fast for Ghazan's feet to catch and crush it. He held back from swearing and making a scene. It wouldn't have been smart to do anything that might make him stick out in anyone's mind.

"You see the size of that thing?" he asked Zaheer.

Zaheer followed the path the spider took with his eyes, his brow drawing together in concern. "I don't recognize the type," he said. "We should find a healer in case its bite is dangerous."

Ghazan looked at the wound on his hand. It still stung, but not much. The pain was almost gone already. "No, I don't think it was. Just hungry for some tough meat."

Zaheer regarded him, a slow grin showing on his face. "You haven't changed. What was it you wanted to talk about?"

 _Talk?_ Ghazan thought. _I did say that, didn't I? Can't remember what, now._

It must not have been important.

"It's nothing," he said. "Let's get going. I'm looking forward to seeing Ming Hua again."

"I had a feeling you would," Zaheer said. "First we find her, then P'li, and then we pay a visit to the Avatar."

Based on The Legend of Korra, Created by Bryan Konietzco and Michael Dante DiMartino


End file.
